Ware House 518 preps The Louie Bar, featuring craft cocktails

Mount Vernon is suddenly a craft-cocktail mecca. Ware House 518 (518 N. Charles St., [443] 869-3381, warehouse518.com) is readying The Louie Bar, a menu of craft cocktails and light fare separate from the restaurant's current cocktail program and menu of contemporary American cuisine—joining the recently opened Poets and newly opened Flavor.

"The menu will be diverse ranging from rotating classic renditions to more whimsical recipes," says beverage coordinator Perez Klebahn, previously of Mr. Rain's in the American Visionary Art Museum, in a press release. "The goal is to be very scratch, developing ingredients in house from liquers to bitters."

It's not a new bar, so much as a new concept for Ware House 518's current rear bar. Louie Bar will be open until last call on Fridays and Saturdays and will feature Klebahn's new creations and a menu of cheese plates, charcuterie, and other bar fare.

The bar gets its named from the famed Louie's Bookstore, the arts institution that once called the building home, and the aesthetic of the rear bar has been changed accordingly, including more wood tabletops, steel bar stools, and wooden bookshelves packed with various volumes.

Ware House is throwing a grand-opening party that doubles as a one-year anniversary celebration on Oct. 24 from 9-11 p.m., featuring hors d'oeuvres from Cyrus Keefer's new project, Defi Moi, and a complimentary cocktail. Tickets are on sale now and cost $25.